Europeans unlikely to heed US calls for more troops in Afghanistan

America's European allies are unlikely to commit significantly more combat troops to Afghanistan despite months of pressure from the US and Britain, officials and independent commentators said today. The reluctance of European leaders, including Gordon Brown, to agree to deploy more of their troops, has angered Washington. However, it has come as no surprise. General Stanley McChrystal, the top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, will have taken this into account in his major review of strategy in Afghanistan, which is now being scrutinised in the White House and at Nato headquarters in Brussels. "I don't know where any extra troops will come from," said Alastair Cameron, head of the European security programme at the Royal United Services Institute. He said the Europeans were keen to press for a more effective commitment to Afghanistan by the international community–a reference to the UN and other agencies, and to their potential role in developing civil authority, including an effective police force.